


You Only Live Twice, Legally Speaking

by RedSpades_and_BlackDiamonds



Category: National Novel Writing Month - Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Effective Immortality, I messed up YOLO and accidentally said you only live twice, Magic, Sentient Technomagic, didnt feel like continuing to update it so... here's what there is, familiars and masters, future setting, got to 51k!, hypertech setting, i did finish nanowrimo though!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-01-08 17:44:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12259071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedSpades_and_BlackDiamonds/pseuds/RedSpades_and_BlackDiamonds
Summary: uh yeah?





	1. Concept Writing: You Only Live Twice, Legally Speaking.

**Author's Note:**

> uh yeah?

Concept: 

It’s not the your body can’t handle dying and regenerating more than two times. You’re just not allowed to. That’s the law, anyways.

Dying and rebirth isn’t really as painful as a lot of 1st lifers think it will be, despite the constant reassurances. Some 1st lifers, and more 2nd lifers have taken that as their catch phrase. No need to sweat the small stuff, enjoy your time while you have it, after all, you only live twice, so why not enjoy it?

From time to time criminal incidents pop up, someone becomes a 3rd lifer or, much more rarely, there’s a report of a 4th or 5th lifer. To those that live on the fringe of society, these people are considered near-heroes, though the hero-worship of them is kept quiet to avoid any trouble with the law. 

Becoming a third or beyond lifer is a serious crime, much or serious than a death penalty, after all… those don’t always work and are considered a waste on resources. The penalty of becoming a third-gen+ lifer is much more serious: censorship. In a world ruled by digital and artificial expansion and its recreation onto the physical plane, the world observable mere human eyes, censorship is death. It forces you to either shut down your body’s processes voluntarily or live on the outskirts of society, away from technology and often in solitude. Live alone, totally and completely away from any signs of the integrated network.


	2. Aqua Holly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so i thought this would be about technomagic and people living twice and angst but it seems its more about magic, fantasy, and exorcisms type stuff?
> 
> Edited: November 13th

“—and here is a quick reminder by our sponsors at the Neat Electronics and Clean Energy Company to end to our very important broadcast. From birth to death and back again in your next life NEC-EC has all your tidy solutions, made with the love of a caring metal heart.” The jolly voice of the newscaster, Aqua Holly rings out. The television shows the lady getting up out of her seat as the broadcast ends, before switching to another screen in time for the next hour’s to begin.

A minute of noise passes before the man behind the bar speaks loudly, gathering the attention of his customers “If the bastards in the government thing that is going to deter us…” He shakes his head and I smirk at his enthusiasm. “I’m not saying that meddling with our life like this ought to be unconstitutional but…” A round of “here here” passes around the lounge’s bar, glasses raised appropriately. He continues, “And who are the corporations like NEC-EC to be sponsoring our local news and forcing them to add their messages to the end of all their segments, just cause the government pigs won’t pay for the hard works by local reporting.” He slams down the drink in his hand on the wooden table with a thud. Another round of agreement follows his words, including some comments of “fuck the government,” “damned pigs,” or “down with NEC-EC.” I smile slightly from the shadows. Their enthusiasm is admirable, but the question will be if they will act when the time is right.”

Fourty minutes later, the barkeeper shouts down the dying commotion: “Alright, you drunk fuckers! If you are staying here in the lodge tonight, it is time to go upstairs now. If you aren’t, it is closing time so get out of here before I chase you out with my boom!” He brandishes a nearby broom with more menace than a cleaning instrument should be capable of. He adds, “the Witching Hour comes in just ’45, so get home!”

One of the women who frequents his establishment shouts at him, “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Vlad” and then, “seriously though, you’ve got to let go of those fairy tales at some point… it doesn’t do for someone as old as you to be spreading those fairy tales about!

“I’m not that old” he shouts back, “I’m only twenty-five!”

“Twenty-five in _this_ life, you mean” she corrects him, teasing “I know that you’re secretly an old man..”

Yes, my close friend Vlad Ner, the giant man of 6’5, of age 25, with a black beard stretching down to the middle of his chest, is a lost less scary than he looks. He loves hugging his friends, gets scared at the thought of them being in even slight danger, and will apologize after killing a fly. He says that the appearance is just one he maintains to keep trouble out of his lounge. “I don’t like the assumptions people make about me, but they’re damn helpful in keeping my place safe.”

After thirty more minutes, the rest of the patrons staying over tonight leave the room to head upstairs for the night. Vlad takes the remote and turns off the television monitors in front of the bar, a relic of the old times, like most of the electronic items in the shop. He walks over to the windows, turning them off and then up the stairs, to flip the sign the reads “dinner is being served” to the back side “the lounge is closed.” He collects the sign about dinner and replaces it with the breakfast menu and when the lounge will be open, still keeping it facing the back.

Looking to the clock on the first floor, an ancient relic older than almost any older in the bar, he proclaims to empty air “You know I can see you there, right Aqua?” The hands of the grandfather clock proclaim it to be 8:30 at night.

From a shadowed corner of the room, an iridescent form with the color of a pure spring’s water appears. The form would be considered decidedly feminine by the current standards of Body Creation, as decreed by President Harte thirty-five years ago, and without a single scrap of metallic influence to be seen. I walk up the stairs and tap Vlad on his back, “Witching Hour comes soon, where’s your gear? We’re going tonight, right Vlad?” I tilt my head to the side as he looks me over.

“Yeah. We are, Aqua.” He leisurely walks to his VIP Owner’s room, stretching his arms above his waist. Once inside, he takes off his bartender outfit and looks inside the closet, where he pulls out a black hat, undershirt, and pants. After putting those on, he takes a suit-jacket of rain cloth made as iridescent as my skin and pulls it on over his chest. A lance with a similarly iridescent tip is pulled from a different side of his closet. He exists the room and I follow.

We leave the Cracking Duck Lounge with two minutes to spare before the Witching Hour begins.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 2

I observe the layout of the world around us. Vlad grabs me by the arm, yanking me in a direction to indicate where we are going tonight. He takes a run down an ally to the town’s square and I follow. It is only a minute away, and for the last sixty seconds of peace, we stand at the fountain, the centerpiece of Andrei Park: an installment twenty years old that celebrates the primary inventor of our second life, of _their_ second life. We wait in silence for the Witching Hour to begin. I look to Vlad and he nods. The giant clock tower in front of us strikes the new minute: 8:40. The witching hour has begun. The scenery around us changes. I begin to float, and the shimmer of my skin, his suit, and lance grows brighter and brighter, until they are about the brightness of an old LED Light, or even the much more recent Illuminant Series Wall Installation.

 

The world grows darker, and the street’s Illuminant Panels begin to dim for the night. Three minutes in to the hour the first one appears. I see something like me drop down from the Sky, landing five feet above the ground, suspended in the air. It’s green, and the surface of its fluid seems to be boiling. Instead of being pristine like mine, it’s a murky, forest, even metallic green. Dangerous for a mortal like Vlad to try to take on. I stand in front of Vlad, and spread my arm in front of him as an indication I am taking this one down. A breath in, a breath out. A circle appears in front of me, and then one in front of Ivy.

 

I snap into a form as a Sprite, now about the height of the hat on Vlad’s head, my power concentrated in the smaller form. I approach Ivy, to the great displeasure of Vlad, who is under the impression I’ll be hurt by the contact. I touch a finger to Ivy’s form, touching her temple, “Please be free from your cursed evils, my sister. Purify yourself.” I will my words into reality as strongly as I can. The glimmer of my body dims slightly and a thin beam of light pierces through her temple from the heavens above.

 

The once previously murky and metallic green turns bright like my own blue, shimmering. Static appears at the edge of the boundaries, the infection of Ivy’s disease fighting back against my own purity. The static slowly gives way and the light slowly expands further and further as I continue my touch. Ivy falls down to the ground and the light fills her body.In a span of a minute her body is cleared of the infection.

 

Her body is still for a long minute where I worry it failed to work, that she’s still contaminated. Then, her eyes open slowly, flickering closed with rapid blinks, adjusting to visual input after what I suspect to have been a long time. It had been perhaps three years since I’d last seen Ivy. A long time for one of us. Her hands gripped the ground of the Witching Hour and pushed off, dislocating her into the darkness. Her voice reactivated, “Thank you, Aqua. Or is it Holly now?”

 

“It’s both. You should go. Don’t get caught again, please” I beg of her. I lament, “We can’t always save each other.” I look down. Vlad hits my arm,

 

“If you’ve time to be chatter boxing then get back here. We’ve wasted enough time, we have to go somewhere.” Obediently, I switch back to full size and follow him, not asking his plans. If he needs me to know something, he’ll tell me after all. I keep three paces behind him as we run to our mysterious destination.

 

It takes twenty minutes, but we finally arrive. The building in front of me is tall and grey, like almost everything in the city I’ve seen. Not that I go out much. In large red lettering, a sign on its top reads: Bolgar City Hall. I eye Vlad suspiciously but don’t say anything. We stand outside the doors and I wait for him to go in. He stands there, eventually turning around to look at me. “You going to give me a lift or not, Aqua?”

 

 _Oh_. We aren’t going in the front doors then. Okay. I walk over to Vlad and pick him up in my hands, bending my knees. “Which floor” I ask. The reply is the fifth. _Ugh, making me do all the work, like usual_. “Do you want me to go in with you, or wait here?” I’m told to wait here. “It’s going to hurt, so brace yourself.” I throw my body up with a shot and toss him into the air. Despite how heavy he is, he flies through the air, easily high enough to reach the seventh. I notice the lighting panel under me is cracked. _Oh well. This is going to leave a mark…_

 

I bounce up on my feet once, just barely in the air. I squat as I land back down in the couple of inches I jumped, and launch myself through the air, catching up to Vlad at the fifth story, right behind him. I extend my feet into his back, turning a quarter of a circle. There is a loud _thwack_ noise as my form makes forceful contact with his, and he is sent barreling through the window, and on to the pink panels of level five, farther up in the building of mysteries than even I’ve been. As a news reporter for NEC-EC, I myself have only ever been to floor three and below, and that was only once.

 

And so, I crash back down, completely destroying the light panel and the ones surrounding it from the impact. While they are great lighting and aesthetic design for an otherwise bleak city, the designer of them sure failed to think about their fragility, assuming the glass that covers the city’s ground would be strong enough to protect it from damage with regular maintenance.

 

It takes an hour and a half for Vlad to return. In the plentiful time I have before his return comes, I leisurely watch the world change from the shadows of the building. I displace myself so the road crews and the occasional night time wanderer don’t see me, nor the late night drunkards with whom I’ve had less than pleasant interactions on several occasions. And so I watch the panels change color slowly. The witching hour slowly comes to an end and the world appears more normal again. The landscape lightens up a bit, and more people return to vision, walking around.

  
The witching hour ends, and it takes another length of time before Vlad finally returns, walking out of the City Hall confidently, with the gleam of a stash of documents in underneath his jacket. Of course, they’re well hidden from plain sight, it only being a perk of my connection to him that I can tell they’re there. I follow him back to the Cracking Duck Lounge, knowing without asking that he understands I am following him. Of course, I could simply displace to there, that’s how I get to work and back every day, but it’s better to walk at times.

 

The lodge’s first floor is empty of humans, like usual. Unlike usual is that there are a bunch of others like me gathered in the shadows. Others who come out and present themselves to Vlad when we enter. He turns his head at me and I nod humbly, pointing to myself. “So… who are you all? I gather that you’re elementals, quite obviously, given your form and similar appearance to Aqua here. But why are you gathered here?” He takes a seat on one of the red barstools, “Is there something going on, or is this an intervention” he jokes.

 

“Very funny” said the pink one—Rose. Her appearance was stocky, hair curled and long, an unusual feature for creatures like most of us.

 

A yellow elemental, a kind girl I know as “Lemon” speaks up next. “I doubt you stole those documents without knowing what they are.”

 

Cinnabar, a guy made of a brilliant red, continues from where Lemon left off, “We won’t ask you to return them. That would be foolish of us, and we don’t have any need of them.”

 

Next is a purple guy, name unknown to me, whose voice is deeper and more mature than the tinkering sleigh-bell voices of everyone else, “But take care not to let others get their hands on them. We don’t know how you did it, but..”

 

Finally, the last of the elementals who speaks steps up. It a shimmering black figure named Belladonna, hair down to her waist, arms and legs slender, childlike in proportions. Her voice, however, is commanding and grates on my Form’s ears like metal. It hurts. I’m sure it’s worse for Vlad. The voices of elementals aren’t very easy to listen to; we’re hard on the ears, or so I’m told. “Because you have managed to convince Aqua, the freest of us all, to become your bound familiar, we trust your intentions are pure. That her skin is unsullied in proof enough that she believes in you.” They all disappear, except for Ivy, who stays long enough to give me a hug and then join the rest.

 

“What in the twice-living fuck of machines was that” said Vlad, panting and dropping to his knees, having fallen off his stool.

 

“Are you okay, are you hurt?” I drop and place my hand on his back for comfort. 

 

“I’m fine. Their voices are just difficult as always. I can only bare to hear yours without pain cause of the bond. They managed to find out about the documents already huh?” He seems rather surprised at the fact they found out so quickly, though I wasn’t.

 

“It’s pretty run of the mill. The ones you met, who talked, are the leaders of our council. They are the ones that decide the rules for how _we_ live, separate from humans. Where we are allowed to inhabit, what jobs we may take. It probably sounds like a bit of a shadow society, but I suppose it is a little like that.” I smile. “Elementals like me and Ivy are lower in importance, so we just follow the orders, and have to obey the laws that are handed down by that.”

 

“That’s interesting.” Vlad says, “But, it’s late and we need sleep. Or, I need sleep. I guess you do more of a meditative rest than resting.. Good night, Aqua.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully it'll start improving @ day four...
> 
> EDIT: the 6th, made some edits

Vlad is up again at five in the morning, preparing food for the customers who slept over at the lodge. The vintage style of Vlad’s Lodge is one of the main attractions for it, which means  having his meals be hand cooked instead of prepackaged or machine-baking methods. It also meant, inevitably, that the meals tasted worse than they might if Vlad were to bring his place up to date. Not that I minded.

The smell of the preparation of food delivered some of the earlier-waking customers down the landing an hour early. I don’t appear to them, it’s not something I have to do for my contract and humans are not my favorite creatures to entertain with meaningless pleasantries. The man who came down sat on one of the couches by the TV and yelled back for Vlad, “Hey! Can I turn this thing on?”

“Turn what on?” Comes Vlad’s yell from the kitchen.

“The TV! The one in front of the couch!” He yells back.

“Oh. Sure, just don’t put the volume up too loud! Quiet hours ends at nine!” He replies. _Ugh. I think, don’t the volume of your voices already defeat any purpose of a quiet hour? What part of “Quiet Hours” do you not get, you’re the damn owner! Times like these proved just how infuriating humans really are._ I did tune into the television though, it was playing the station I work at.

I wonder who the host is for today.. I read the crawl on the bottom of the screen… It’s Lenny. Ugh. A man with an incredibly pale complexion, who robotics extensions he isn’t even bothering to hide, takes his seat in front of the camera.

“Good morning Bolgar City!” He proclaims, performing a quick shuffling of the papers at the bottom of the screen. “I’m Larry Cotsfield here, with your morning news at 6. First up on this beautiful snowless winter day is a report we have received of a break-in, or so it is suspected by our officials at the BPD. The theoretical crime—and yes we do mean theoretical, given the adamant statement of confusion by members of City Hall, is suspected to occurred sometime around nine last night. We say theoretical because there were no signs of a break-in, but the supposed victim, our dear City Hall, reports documents missing, and is adamant that no one entered the building during the supposed hours. The only clue to solving this unprecedented and unorthodox crime is this mysterious image recorded by one of the security cameras,” he says, pausing his speech before cueing the visuals team to display the mentioned image. By the graces of luck, Vlad was not captured on the image. Instead, it showed my true form from the Witching Hour overlay: a translucent body, of traditionally feminine appearance, with a slight tint of blue and hundreds of small wispy lines coming off me—my magic. _Ugh. Of course I’m the one that got caught. This is definitely going to make work awkward, since I’m the one they always assign to the important cases for the evening news…_

“If you have any information as to the identity of this person… ah, creature, please either call us directly here at the station or give the Second Floor at City Hall a call. You will be rewarded with the incredible, highly coveted and widely respected reward of… one—yes one” his voice nearly a shout while staying composed before quieting down again, “whole entire stamp on your good citizenship card.” He gives a smile to the camera, somehow making it a closing act to a theater show. “More details as they come, my loyal listeners.”

An advertisement by CCE, Cooking and Cleaning Emporium, is featured and then the news program returns. “Now, a word.. related to our special broadcast last night, covered the station’s very own, wonderful, Ms. Aqua Holly.” A clip of my appearance last night is shown.

“Hello, dear people of Bolgar City!” I say on the television. This is weird to watch… “Tonight, our station has a special news report for you all. The President, Prime Minister, and the Emperor have all made a very important announcement! For over two hundred years, our country has struggled with the problem of how to address the seemingly-infinite possibility of lifespan that was granted by Andrei Hoald! And tonight, a decision has been made. The three high powers of the country have decreed, effective in two months, that it is illegal for someone with cybernetic extensions to be rebooted a second time. We are only allowed two lives: that’s it. The method that was used to determine this conclusion has not been revealed, except for a simple statement: ‘We believe that it is best for the prosperity of our country in modern times, if we kept the true lifespan of our population to a certain, reasonable cap. We are aware that very few other countries have imposed such policies yet, but we believe this to be a groundbreaking one. If you are someone of Third or above and do not wish to be rebooted as a new person, you are suggested to leave the country.”


	5. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> today's chapter: 2445 words.

The broadcast continued and detailed the specifics of the plan: Current Seconds would be allowed to Reboot to Thirds, and Thirds to reboot to Fourths, and so on. In effect, the status of everyone is to be recorded into a database. When we die, we will be rebooted as usual and have our status changed. From that time onward, if we are to die again, we either be sent to be disassembled with our mechanical extensions or rebooted without our memories. Accordingly, the three stools of power also announced several new crimes along with this: The crime of rebooting a second time, and the crime of rebooting someone without government permission, the crime of rebooting someone beyond their second, and the crime of hiding evidence of any of the former.

 

The punishment is something that has not been employed for hundreds of years: exile within Naar. Not deportation to another country but exile within their own. Specifically the jungle regions of Timé and Bou, the northern desert Vracc on Frean’s border, and the mountain fields of Ur, Ju, and Kil. At that note, my broadcast from last night ended.

 

I thought about the problems something like this would cause for those found guilty of these crimes. My knowledge of this planet, Asegor, and of its nations was limited. But, there was one commonality between all those spots that I could identify. In all the named areas, connectivity to Naar’s central grid was low, and the regions were infamous for having low supplies of electricity. A report I did last month on tourists falling flat in the Kil mountain range after loosing power to most of their assistance functions, only being found days later with poor vitals came to mind. to the central grid was low. For someone with cybernetics, being in any of these areas would render their cybernetics little more useful than having a stack of bricks strapped to their backs. While their technology would still work just as well as in any city; they wouldn’t have access to the electricity to power it.

 

This exile would reduce those sentenced to a the barest form of humanity, something considered primitive by the societies of the world: both rich and poor for the last two hundred years. Only those so poor they are unable to afford regular food and water, and those who stick to academic or moral objections to Adrei’s “sciences of miracles and wonders” as they were called, still lived only one life before their soul and memories faded alongside their bodies.

 

I sigh. I’m positive that the high stools of this world have an idea of the amounts of backlash they could receive for such actions, but have they considered the _consequences_ it’ll have worldwide, across Asegor? When Frean hears about this, or Serk, or Igalokat. I clench my fist in the air, accidentally letting some Clear out of my body, which I manage to catch before it hits the floor. The foolishness of humanity continues to surprise me as it grows to greater heights of folly.

 

Luckily the customer shuts off the tlevision before much longer, leaving nothing more to be enraged about except the thoughts already in my head. I appear in the kitchen besides Vlad, “Hey, I’m going to take a leave for some of today. There’s something I need to talk with Ivy and Lavender about.” He sighs and gives me a pat on the head.

 

“Be safe out there. It’s dangerous in the Witching Hour. Well, for someone with as much Clear as you have in you, it’s probably fine, but know. Stay safe. When will you be back here again?” He tells me. His eyes soften and he tries to pat me on the head, though I grab his hand.

 

“You don’t need to push yourself to show affection physically like that, Vlad.” I scold him lightly, “I’ll return safe. I promise. Don’t go in to the Witching Hour tonight. Stay here, behind the barrier and Don’t Go Out. I’m worried things might not go as well as I want. And things will be quite.. turbulent if this goes to shit. I hope to be back by tomorrow morning. It could take longer.” I tell him. I step back, stepping through the overhead oven behind me and into the void.

 

It’s dark. everywhere. Darkness surrounds me. I spin around and jump back, and I’m back in the Witching Hour; my home. I’m right outside the Royal City of the Elemental Colors. I conjure my identification from the plane around me and show it to the two guards who block my entrance: Vermillion and Amber. The two jump back and hastily let me through. _For all the trouble is causes with convincing someone I should be allowed to go anywhere, being of such direct Clear descent sure does have its perks._ I walk through the Main Street to see several others saluting me passively as I pass by them, my own status great enough I can go without acknowledging them and not be terribly impolite.

 

I walk over to the medicine bay on the left side of the city, and see the nurse Opal standing by. He, like many of the others, gives a jump when he sees me. “M-m-my Translucence!” He bows deeply, _and sometimes, my status as a Half-Pure is just annoying as all get out_.

 

Still, attempting to act the regal part that I am supposed to, I incline myself slightly. “You may raise yourself… please” I say, and Opal does so very gradually. “I’m here to look for.. friends. One of them was recently Cleared of her taint. The other may still be tainted, I am not sure.” He motions for me to continue talking, “I’m looking for Ivy and Lavender. Have you seen them?”

 

“Ivy is resting up currently, I have not seen lavender in ages though? Perhaps she remains missing.”

 

“Alright…” I sigh and roll my eyes. “Can I talk with Ivy for now then?”

 

He waves his hands to the side, “I’m in no position to stop you, Your Translucence. She’s right this way” he says, moving aside a set of curtains, allowing me to see a light green girl. Unlike most of us, she has distinct hair separate from her body. It is visibly long and high in volume even while she is resting on her back. I step in through the opening and Opal closes the curtains behind me.

 

I raise my left hand up and close my eyes, feeling the magic in the air around us. I speak a few soft sentences, “The royal crown lost its way. Mint met Hazel at a bar. The magic of Clearing belongs to the elders.” I tap into the magic as I speak, feeling the vibrations in the air from my sound. I feel the soft barrier to the vibrations caused by the curtains around us, and yank on them. They are pulled taut, and I call out, “Opal, can you hear me?” I receive no response and my sense of vibration tells me that the sound was absorbed into the cloth.

 

I sit on the bed next to Ivy. “You awake? I just put in a privacy filter.” No response. I contemplate simply shaking her awake but decide not to. I am sure it would be an incredibly effective way to ensure she wakes, though I am equally sure that Ivy would find it unpleasant and grow angry with me if I did. So, I instead wait by the bedside for her to wake up. I curse myself several times in the two hours I must wait, once for acting so servile as to wait on another Element, once for not having been there to stop her from becoming tainted, once for not being here to aide her recovery, and once for having grown so far apart from Ivy.

 

But, the wait proved itself well worth the time in the amusement I received at her waking reaction to seeing me. She opens her eyes and lets out a small groan, clearly tired from the labor of regaining full control of her mental processes. She starts to get up out of bed, presumably to put on the patent’s uniform hung on the side of the room. I wave gently and say, “Hello~” in the most singsong of voices I can muster. She jumps out of bed, then realizing her state, hastily pulls a cover around her, using a small magic trick to re-form it into a dress. I laugh, “surprised to see me?”

 

“What are you doing here Aqua?” She whisper-shouts at me.

 

“Eh???” I feign innocence, “I just felt like visiting you Ivy?” With an incredible dramatic flair, I draw out a breathy gasp for several seconds and then say, “Don’t you even love me?” I bring my arm lavishly up to my forehead before dropping it by my side. “In all seriousness, Ivy Thorns. You can’t keep avoiding me.” My voice grows darker, “Something happened with you and Lavender. She slowly slinks back into the bed, drawing the remaining cover over her and holding tight a pillow above her face.

 

Muffled, I hear, “You’re a bastard of tremendous proportions. Please tell me you’re aware of that.” She seemingly ignores my comment about Lavender.

 

“I know.. According to you..” I remark, then emphasizing each of my words, “One Hundred and.. fifty years ago. I’ve. Had. Practice.” I take her hand and place it under mine. It’s cold and tense like glass. “What happened, Ivy?” I get silence from her. “Just because I’m a half-pure doesn’t mean I’m going to rat you out to the council if you made some mistake. I’m not a prude nor one of those shadeless council bastards for spectrum’s sake! Let me remind you that I’m the bonded familiar of a human of all creatures. The council was not happy about that.”

 

“Lavender and I… went on a mission. It was down to your plane of existence, three years ago. We ran into huge trouble. unexpected trouble. We were forced to split up and escape by ourselves. I didn’t make it. Lavender’s more handy with combat, so I think she might have made it out okay. Something in the place was preventing the overlaps we can create with Witching Hour. I tried to bring our parts of the dimensions closer but I couldn’t even access the Void. I was trapped there. I kept on having to fend on creatures, weapons, _machinery._ In the end, I used too much of my magic before I was able to escape. I lasted two days by myself.” She makes a motion I recognize as a common precedent to crying and I wrap my arms around her.

 

“What was the mission?” I ask softly. “What were you after?” She tenses up and doesn’t speak. “If I want to know, will I have to command the information from you?” I ask, wearily. Commanding is not fun and I hate doing it. It’s also dangerous. She nods. “Spectrum’s golden sack…” I cuss. I raise my voice and stir the magic in the air with a few vocalizations. “On my authority as a Half-Pure, the Daughter of the Royal White of Translucence and the Royal Blue of Hydration, I command you to tell me where you went, the objective of your assignment, and the one who ordered it of you.”

 

I collapse on the floor, next to the bed. I look at my arm and see it is heavily clouded, having taken on a murky fog color. _Not enough to begin the process of becoming tainted but I probably shouldn’t use too much magic…_ A few seconds after my thump to the ground, Ivy’s voice begins speaking. It sounds forced, monotone, emotionless. “Lavender and I were assigned by a council member, lemon, to look into something in the realm of Asegor. Asegor’s country of Naar has a government which has been creating weaponry she feared could pose a potential threat to us. Her source of information on it had related to her just a week prior that they might have created mechanical weaponry that had the capacity to jump dimensions, if they had enough magical power gathered. Furthermore, this suggested that Naar’s government had finally become aware of magic’s existence. Lemon did not believe the creators of these machines realized the potential they had. We were to investigate and confirm the existence of said creations and destroy them at once. We were to ten infiltrate the labs where they were designed and murder the scientists who created them, and destroy their notes. The second was why I was brought on, for my poison.

 

“You were to search and destroy?” I groan. _Just what is the council getting up to with all this?_ “And, what happened? You ran into something while separated and used too much magic?” She nods silently. “Speaking of,” I say, “do you think you could use some on me? I’m… becoming a bit murky. I haven’t had any healing in a long time, though the bond actually negates most of it.” My crystal clear skin had become cloudy, and taking on the appearance of something closer to blue-tinted fog than a crystal spring.

 

“Yes. That was the purpose of the mission” she continues. “We ran into the machines themselves after murdering their creators. I had to flee the building, but something about the facility’s compound prevented me from accessing the Witching Hour. I was tainted as I exited it. I never saw Lavender exit, but it is very possible that she exited before me.” Her voice gains emotion again, and returns to her normal cadence. “Oh, yeah! I can do that too!” I look upwards and see her perk up with a smile. “Anything works right?” I nod. “Alright then…” She wraps me in a hug, and sticks a few fingers into my neck. She starts singing in a musical tune, filling her fingers with the magic from her voice.

 

_Here in the grasslands_

_Here at the start_

_Lovers lie near, when others cannot  
To see all your pain, and not go insane_

_The grassland is here for your heart_

 

_I won’t surrender your life to the voids_

_I won’t give you up amidst all the noise_

_I’m not just some droid_

_Living my days without joys,_

_By your side I wish to remain_

 

My skin begins turning clear and I feel soothed by her words. At the same time, a blush appears on my face. Between spending the last centuries in the human world to investigate them, and other events which kept us busy, we had not had time like this in… forever.


	6. Lavender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 7 of NaNoWriMo

Three hours later, I leave the side of her bed. I’m perfectly clear (and so is she). I wave goodbye to Opal, the kind man, and walk around the city. It’s getting to be almost noon and I have a lot of self-reflection and thinking to do. I take a seat on a random box in an alleyway to think.

 

The first ponderance my mind prompts: _Did I make the right choice in leaving the Witching Hour for Asegor? The kingdom is always in need of spies in other realms, and Asegor poses a pretty significant potential of danger to us. They did when I first started, and they do even more now. But was it rea lly worth giving up Ivy’s company for hundred years at a time? I’m glad that we got to catch up but…_ I shake my head. There isn’t any point in worrying about the past. Besides, in another two hundred years my bonded partner is going to die anyways, I can be with her later.

 

 _But what to do about Lavender… With her skills in combat, it is quite possible she really did escape. But, nobody has seen her in the capital city for a couple of years, so she obviously hasn’t returned here. It is possible that she returned to a different city. She wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of living here…_ A thought occurs to me and I begin cackling. _Oh spectrum… she wouldn’t really, would she?_ I had the sudden thought that Lavender really might decide to simply live in Asegor. “Well,” I say out-loud, “I suppose it might actually be easier to search for her in Asegor than in Witching Hour…”

 

I get up off the box and wander back in to the main streets. I consider visiting the Royal Palace. I would be allowed in, as both of my parents are Pures, and in fact part of the royalty. But then again, visiting my mothers is always a pain of a chore. It’s probably best to go through the city and not let them know I was in town. Family is like that.

 

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Yet, as I walked down through the City, I inevitably wound up at the Palace, placed at the city’s center. It’s been five hundred and twenty years since I last visited either of my parents in the Palace; only seeing them on the very rare occasions when they have leave their sacred sanctuary for urgent outside business. I stand in front of the gates for a while, and then check the time: just after noon. Like always, there is a crowd of twenty or thirty colors watching the Palace for any sighting of one of the Pures. The whole city, and most of the kingdom, worships them as almost literal deities. I suppose it isn’t too inaccurate to think of them as that, considering we are all literal decedents of the Pures.

 

Personally, I worship magic as my deity. Magic, which brought and formed the Colors and Pures to begin with and is the base material for every Elemental’s body.

 

I walk up to the actual gate itself and briefly stopped while the guards, neither of whom I recognize (one is a purple and one is an orange), pull out a sheet of paper. Given that they hold it up and clearly start comparing pictures on it to me, I assume it to be the Royal List of Visitors and Residents: the most influential document in the Kingdom. Being placed on that list in even the Visitors section is enough to guarantee your respect anywhere the Pures are worshipped. It is enough to convince others to hole you up in their homes, feed you free meals, and shelter you from harm.

 

The other category is being on the list of Residents, which I have been on since I was created. The privileges provided by this are several steps further. First: you can usually get those you request added to the list of Visitors. Second: Near complete indemnity of any crimes you may commit (though this may cause you to be removed from the list and then prosecuted). Third: Limited access to funds provided by the Kingdom for one’s own personal spending. Fourth: A room either vacant in the Palace, or to be constructed specifically for you. Fifth: The right to meet with the Pures on an as-need basis without making a reservation. Residents are universally allowed to interrupt important meetings the Pures may have with important Elementals, and force said citizens out of the room. Only the sacred meetings between Pures and other Residents or between multiple Pures may not be interrupted.

 

Finally the guards realize that I, Aqua Holly, am a resident of the Palace. They stammer out a quick apology for taking so long in their verification, and then humbly open the left gate, with the word “Resident” above it. It creaks loudly. It is obvious, both from the sound of the gate and from the noise of the crowd, that it has been a decent amount of time since a resident last came into the Palace. The crowd claps loudly and I sigh, giving them a wave to sate their desire to somehow _involve themselves_ in the mess of royalty.

 

I visit my old room: the sign on the door indicates it is considered “Vacated.” _Whelp_ , “Not vacated any more” I say, walking into the room. The room’s sign flips and becomes a delightful spring blue, with my name written in golden writing underneath.

 

The room is lavish. It was about the size of the entire downstairs of Vlad’s Cracking Duck Lounge. There is a large bed, big enough to easily fit five. The bed has a pole on each of the corners and a large covering on the top, with drapes on all sides. The bedding is soft and allows me to simply sink in, as I test it laying down. I twist the world around me and shift back Asegor.

 

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

It is sometime in the evening, is the first detail I notice of the world around me. I look to find a clock, the bastard still keeps them around after all, and read the time: “6:43.” The second detail I notice is that I am in a room. Specifically it seems to be one of the guest rooms. _That’s an interesting situation to be in_. The third thing I notice is that the room is occupied and has someone currently sleeping in it. The furniture in it is rather standard, but looks to be on the higher end of what I can remember seeing Vlad purchase years ago when he put this place together.

 

The bed is bunked and takes up approximately a third of the room. The frame that supports it seems to be made of plastic, a horribly outdated material almost never used anymore. On the section between the bed and the wall and away from the door is a wooden desk, another such lavish relic. It is clean and obviously regularly polished. _Enough admiring of the room, Aqua._ I phase through the door and very nearly get caught by someone who just happens to be opening their door.

 

Unfortunately, the person is chatty. “Hey, have I met you somewhere before? You look… really familiar?” She asks the last line, making it sound more like a question than a statement with her intonation and pause at the end of the sentence. She is waiting a mint dress that goes down to the floor with a lavender band around the middle, tied into a bow at the front, and black gloves with white dots. Her hair is tied back in a bun from what I can see and dyed the same shade of purple as the band on her dress. She wears large-rimmed silver glasses and has Hazel eyes. She carries a small blood red handbag in her right hand. Her entire appearance, mixed with the way she carries herself is striking and bold, contrasted sharply by her quiet voice of greeting. _She looks oddly familiar…_

 

I decide I ought to introduce myself, now that I’ve been noticed. “Oh! I’m Aqua Holly. Newscaster at the local station here in Bolgar City. You probably recognize me from that.” I suggest nervously. This wasn’t the first encounter I’ve had with a watcher of the station, and it would not be the last. Encounters I typically disliked. People would come up to me and yell at me. They would try to convince me that I should report something that happened to themselves, trapped in a delusion that their daily life is so important the entire city needs to know about it. The other sect of viewers I encounter either compliment me on my newscasting or yell at me for it, depending on what their political stances are relative to my station’s.

 

She, however, looks much more confused than when she first started speaking. “Bolgar City.. what is that?” She raises a hand to her brow and groans, “Ugh.. forgive me, I’m having a bit of a time right now. Hit… my head pretty hard this morning.” She waves her hands in earnest when I attempt to come closer to comfort her. “Please please, I’m not comfortable with just being touched like that.” An awkward silence ensues,

 

“So… what’s your name?” I ask, tentatively. I’m not sure that I want to get into a conversation with this unusual lady, but I feel compelled to continue talking. Something about pained humans gets me to feel bad for them, the lesser beings that they are.

 

She takes a minute to respond. “Lavender. I think. I’m not sure.” She pulls her handbag to the front and opens it, “Pardon me…” and begins to search for something. After another few minutes, she pulls out something, a card perhaps. She reads the card and then looks up at me. Chipper, she confirms, “Yep! I am Lavender. Last name is.. Mire? I think? Anyways, I was about to head down to the bar, if you would like to join me?”

 

“You seriously don’t know me?” I ask, genuinely confused.

 

“I feel like I do… but I can’t place it.” She smiles at me. She starts walking down and I accompany her. We see the owner giving his nightly speech to the drinkers to head home now as we walk down the stairs. He looks surprised to see me, not to mention with the mystery guest.

 

“You’re back already, Aqua?” He asks. Lavender turns her head to me and I feel like she’’s implicating a question to be asked.

 

“We know each other. Long time acquaintances and good friends” I explain. He nods and places a hand on my shoulder. “I’m not back for good yet, I just thought I would come back for a small visit before going back again. It might take up to a week, actually. I.. need to reacquaint myself with some friends. Feel free to come up to my room later after everyone’s all in bed to talk about it.” Lavender asks him for a drink, tossing him a few coins.

 

He walks behind the counter and I hear the hissing sound of the faucet, pouring her something (probably alcoholic) and then serving it to her. She drinks it slowly and asks for a slice of pizza, which raises our eyebrows. She tosses another golden coin and a slice is served. It’s a pizza with cheese, a type of meat, and spinach. I’m still not sure what the meat is called, it is something which does not exist in the Witching Hour. She starts talking after she’s finished, “Thank you for the meal. I.. haven’t had pizza in a long time. Aqua, I remember you now. We were both interning at a technology company, approximately seventy years ago.” I rack my memory, and sure enough there was someone who looked quite like her back then. _Strange to think she’d remember something like that? We talked a fair amount, but did it really leave that much of an impression_? “It was nice to meet you again. Here’s my card. Tell Ivy I said hello.” She places one arm down flat against her side, and the other in front of her chest, horizontal and perpendicular in its intersection of her other arm. She bows a perfect forty five degrees and disappears, leaving us the only two in the room.”

 

Vlad stares at me. He scratches his head with one of his huge hands, “Who was that, Aqua?”

 

“I… think that is the girl I was looking for. I had suspected she would still be in the human plane, in Asegor, but… she’s seriously still in Naar?” I throw my head back in a chuckle, “if she was going to hide from me, I would think she could have at least left the country…”


	7. Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 8 of NaNoWriMo

“The girl you were looking for? Do you really have time to be talking to me, then?” Vlad asks, obviously pointing to himself with a finger.

I hand my head, “If she left through the disappearing act of plane-hopping, what we typically use, then there is no point in trying to catch up with her. I’d have to guess where she was going or just have the sheer luck. I doubt I have either of those on my side tonight.” I yawn and stretch my arms up above my head, my hands grasping the opposite arm and stretch them side to side. I don’t get sleepy, but somehow I’ve still managed to pick up certain human behaviors.

“So you do mind explaining why you are back then? Or should you wait till later?” The tone is gentle and non-egressive, despite his body language of putting a hand forcefully down on the bar’s counter. I take a seat on the bar’s counter, jumping up and causing a loud thud when I land.

“I can explain now,” I grumble, leaning myself over the counter backwards. I start my explanation of my day, leaving out some central parts. “I left because I had to go back to the Witching Hour. I’ve been in Asegor a long time. Did I ever tell you I’m practically a princess over there?” The fact that I get a blank stare from his slack jawed face is an obvious answer that I never did. “Have I told you about the Pures?” He gives me a slightly less blank stare and waves his hand a little. Collecting myself, I start my re-explanation: “In the Witching Hour there are several major species. One of those is the Elementals, also referred to as the Colors in times. We have a different word in our own language, but because you are not physically composed of magic and light, it would be near impossible to teach you. My parents are two of the multiple Queens of the Kingdom, making me both really important and, in effect, a princess.”

“Uh… I’m sorry to interrupt you like this, but… why would the Council let someone as important as you have become a familiar bonded to me? I know that I’m good with a sword in a fight, economically stable while managing to run one of the country’s top ten weirdest shops” he picks up a magazine hanging around to prove the ranking, “but I’m not exactly escort of bodyguard material for a foreign government’s Princess.” He chuckles lightly, but looks incredibly distressed. “I made my contract with you when I was still in my first life, approximately sixty years ago now. Have I torn you away from something important,—“

“Let me finish explaining.” Unintentional malice seeps into my voice, “You still don’t grasp the full picture and the little information I learned today makes it very important that you do. I can’t exactly go around having you be uninformed, but neither can I have you know too much.” The darkness becomes more intentional, “I’m aware this probably sounds rather rude or even unforgivable, a somewhat servile familiar telling her master that it is wrong for him to know as much as she does, but I’m quite positive you are also aware of the methods your government is rumored to have in torturing others. Methods that would be wholly ineffective against me.” I take several deep breaths and close my eyes for a brief moment, “I apologize. I got carried away there, Vlad. Let me continue explaining.”

He walks over to the couches and swivels one around, then proceeding to go about his nightly routine of cleaning. “I was a rather rude personality as a child. I had no want to obey orders to me given by the council. Due to my position as the daughter of Clear and Blue, I also had no need to obey the orders. But, it was expected of me regardless. For the the youngest council member was already several hundred years old at the time, and I was merely thirty. Socially speaking, the age gap meant that I should respect them, though my personal status dictated I did not need to. So, they started expelling me to different places, usually in Witching Hour, but sometimes in different dimensions. Point is, that’s how I first wound up in Asegor. It wasn’t fun, but it was when I returned back that I first learned about a work experience program. We work for our government by situating ourselves into life in other dimensions. We report back to them regularly and inform them of any significant changes to the politics and policies of the world governments that could have a significant baring on our home: the Witching Hour.”

“So you’re a spy” He tries to clarify.

I ignore him wholesale. “The reason why they allowed me to sign with you is precisely because of who you are. You have not spent as much time in this world as I have, Vlad. The world is rapidly going down the path of militarization beyond the scope of which already exists. And it is precisely people like you who will be the first targets in any purges of institutional purity regarding interests, hobbies, business, or state loyalty.”

He starts protesting, “I’m not that strange, Aqua! I’m a bit out there among my colleagues, but nothing too out of the ordinary..”

Your political views are fairly ‘’out-there’’ when placed next to just about any citizen you could pluck off the street. Your hair is untidy and your facial hair similarly so. Both are obviously not well-maintained, while still maintaining enough dignity in them that you pass in terms of fashion.. barely. You have a major interest in the antique: clocks, metal swords, plastics, wooden chairs, bar-stools. These are creations from the Asegor’s Old Days, Vlad. Days and times that the governments of the world have retroactively declared as pasts to be ashamed of. And instead of shaming them, you are running a business centered around them. Nobody here things the pizza or alcohol is top class that it is worth what you charge… you don’t even think that. People come to your place because of the mystique involved in it. The idea of dabbling into the forbidden unknown that is so brazenly displayed on your storefront. And the name? ‘’The Cracking Duck?’’ Ducks have been extinct for two-hundred and seventy-three years, Vlad. And you’ve found enough pictures to plaster the walls with them. Do you need me to continue?”

He shakes his head, “I.. think I understand the image you are painting. So you’re telling me that you picked me because if the government is going to start purging people, I am liable to be one of the first to go?”

I make a small correction to his statement, “one of the first to go related to who they are. This new law I had to announce? It is in of itself a form of purge. But that is different. It is not something they are deeming immoral, just simply unwanted. The two are very different concepts.”

“And I am understanding correctly if I say the reason this was important at all as a criteria is because you.. expect this to be happening within my allotted lifespans?”

“Yes. Within this one. Now that they’ve begun the first wave of changes, they have to wait a while for people to settle down. Currently, people are angry at the changes. But if they pull off some restrictions that were inhibiting Naar’s businesses in the first place, then they can make it seem like shutting people down for good earlier will create a positive change. Truly smart people will connect the dots of course and see that the increase in business can be attributed to the changes made during this refractory period, but the common citizen won’t notice. We are a country that is very politically engaged, but the downside is that you humans expect the information to simply be there, reported by your trustworthy media. So if the media cooperates and refuses to report certain information… the whole system will fall.”

For the generally smart and involved person Vlad Ner is, he isn’t the most thoughtful. And so, in a voice of genuine surprise, he says, “Wait really? That easily?”

“For someone of your stature and general intelligence, I had years ago managed to presume you to be equally thoughtful. Once again, I see I have been proven wrong.” I remark offhandedly.“ A few minutes pass in silence before either of us speaks again, it’s Vlad.

“Those regions you mentioned on the news the other day… the ones you said people would be exiled to as per the law. Are you familiar with them?”

“I know a lot of facts about them. That’s part of my job as a newscaster: knowing things. I’ve never visited any of them except for the mountainous regions though. I think if we were to go back to Ur, Ju, or Kil, we would be treated rather well. Last time I checked, I was still being semi-worshiped in folklore there. Looooooots of reverence.” Vlad quickly adapts a look of disbelief there. “Oh yeah I mean it! It was a few hundred years back, on one of the times I was being punished with a multiple year exile too. I got thrown and randomly got sent into the Kil mountain range. I was picked up by a group of people, honestly I forget their name… Anyways, I used some magic to spruce up their village, help their crops grow. That sort of thing. I wandered around villages in the area willynilly doing that sort of thing. It didn’t take much magic actually, especially since I would do it during the Witching Hour’s overlap periods where there would be more magic in the area. Wandered through all three mountain ranges over a span of a few years, before I was transported back to the Witching Hour to be scolded by the council ‘’for interfering too much with human life.’’ I got sent back to a different place for that.”

“You seem to get sent around to places a whole lot. I trust when the day that you are predicting comes, you will be my guide to the region?”

“Naturally.” I look around the room, “Now, I ought to be going back. There are other duties I must attend to in the Witching Hour due to my heritage, and among other things… I need to continue checking up on the girl we rescued. And Vlad?” He turns his head questioningly, “Don’t trust anyone others with that envelope. And make sure it is me before even trusting me with them.”

“If there is nothing you need to do in the Witching Hour tonight, I’ll be on my way, Vlad. It might be a bit longer while I’m out this time, but I’ll give you something to contact me with. You can’t send messages, but it is a link to my magic that will alert me. It goes without saying, but I shall anyways: please do not use it frivolously. If you find out information that you believe to be especially important, if you get exiled, if any changes happen to this… situation, or if you find yourself in physical danger you may use the device.” I pull out a blue stone shaped into an arrow and a ruby linked to my magic with an arrow-shaped hole in it. “Link these two together and I will be notified.”

Before I can get the chance to leave, Vlad places an arm on my shoulder. “I do have a request, actually. Could you bring me some minerals from the Witching Hour for the next time you return? It is fine if they are ordinary ones that we have here on Asegor, since I know you’ve mentioned the existence of several such shared minerals before. If anything, that would make what I wish to do easier because I will better understand their base properties. I have a variety of things I wish to experiment upon given my inability to go to your world as it stands now.”

“Bring you back minerals? I was not planning on spending much time outside of the city, but I can see about it. Until later, Vlad Ner.”

“Until later, Aqua Holly.”

* * *

I reappear back outside the gates of the city. It is night time in the Witching Hour and there are no guards outside of the city walls. I see a singular patrol on the high walls of the city. “Well, I have two choices” I say to myself. “I can either wait out the night and go searching for those minerals Vlad mentioned, or I can break into the city illegally…” I take a moment to consider my options. “Well, there really is only one option is there?”

 

I stretch my magic out into the world around me. I feel my form gradually start to loose its shape and I slowly wobble over to the grate guarding the city. I touch the grate with a finger and then, when nothing bad happens, stick my finger through the grate. Gradually, I pull my magic from my body into my finger, creating a hotspot of magic and accidentally dragging some of the surrounding’s magic in as well. In a minute, I manage to condense my entire self into my finger, which plops onto the floor. I slowly reform my body, having now grown slightly taller due to the increase in magic.

 

I take the walk over to the Royal Palace and get very hastily let in. Before I go through the gates guarding the Palace, I grab the list from the guard holding it. He cries out, clearly upset, given the most important aspect of the Palace Guard job description is not to correctly filter those who enter but to protect the sanctity of The List. I drop magic from a finger and flip through the pages till I get to the Visitors Page. I add “Ivy Thorn” to the list, the blue ink turning the color of her skin in recognition by the document of who she is. I drop a — By authority of Aqua Holly underneath the name, my own name turning Golden in acknowledgement by the document that I am a resident with the power to singlehandedly make such changes.

 

Then, I revisit the clinic. It is closed, formally speaking, but nobody attempts to stop me as I open the lock, find Ivy Thorn and haul her over my shoulder. Neither do the either of Guards object when I bring both of us through the Residents side of the gate. I walk the two of us back to my room, which I am pleased to see recognizes me as remaining the owner of it. When I drag Ivy Thorn across the threshold, however, the sign changes to something I have never seen before.

 

The sign’s Holly Blue base color remains, but vines with thorns and a smattering of other plants appear as decoration on it. Their colors are all an exact match to Ivy’s. Where it used to say “Aqua Holly” it now reads in a black lettering: “Resident:” and then in the standard gold reserved for Royalty, “Aqua Holly.” Underneath my name, changes to which happen in the case of visitors, now reads in the same black lettering, “Roommate:” followed by “Ivy Thorn” in purple letters. _Roommate? Is it because I carried her across the threshold?_ I try bringing her out of the room, but the only change to the sign is the reflection that neither of us are presently _inside_ the room.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 9 of nanowrimo

“Well that is.. interesting. I’ll have to ask Mother about it.” I dump my ex-girlfriend on the luxurious bed and close the covers around her. I strut out of the room, bringing front the mental state of Royalty and adopt a stance to convince those who see me that I belong to be here—that I belong even more than them. Internally I feel disgust at myself and my own actions even as I perform them.

 

Moonlight flows in from the windows lining the wall to the outside. The shutters are open, allowing air and natural magic to flow in from the outside. On my way to her residence, I run into a few other Resident Colors along the way: Smoke Rutile, Cyan Marine, Auburn Rust, a new one I don’t recognize (she introduces herself as Wisteria but gives no second name, _perhaps she hasn’t earned it yet_ , I wonder), and Ivory (who also doesn’t give a name.) Both of the ones without second names are much shorter than me, perhaps around around a meter by the measurements of Vlad’s worlds. It takes about an hour in total between the various conversations I get dragged into by all of them, by pose apparently not very convincing, before I reach the door to the Palace’s Inner Sanctum: the residence of the Royal Pure Colors. I push on the door for over a minute (its size ten times my size, give or take a size or two, by my best estimation) before it finally cracks open.

 

The sanctuary is quiet and vibrant with color. There is uncolored light coming from the overhead, and various colors of lights from the different sides, one for each of the different Colors. There is a blue fountain in the middle of the room, the focal point for all of the different lights, dividing the fountain into equal parts. There are two floors to the sanctuary, and the entire room is made out of marble. _I can admire their architecture another day… right now, I have a question_ I remind myself, giving my face a gentle tap. I walk to the door of White the Translucent, and peer up at the sign, which tells me that she is in the room and awake.

 

I knock on the door several times, a greeting we developed between each other a while back. I hear the thunder of her footsteps and after a few seconds, the door in front of me vanishes. I’m allowed in. Despite that I know her to be right behind the door, I can only tell where she is off of the glimmering air in front of me, her own body too translucent to even see. The special aspect of White: perfect translucence, the only way to tell where she is is by the glimmers she purposefully emits for that purpose.

 

“Now, my child, for what purpose have you finally taken to visiting me? It is such a rare occasion I do not think I could help but worry something has happened and you are in peril.” Her voice is androgynous and soothing, so completely filled with comforting and familiar magic that I have to fight to stay awake. Due to those effects, it also takes significant effort to respond, rendering my own voice shaky.

 

“I have returned to the Witching Hour.” I say, moving my head in a dazed circle. “I.. added Ivy Thorn to the list of Visitors, sponsored by me. I… took her to my room and it told me she is my roommate? The color on the sign was…” I yawn. Loudly. “Purple… for her name…” My eyes fight to stay open as I feel Mother’s magic moving and swirling around me in response to my presence. “What does purple mean, Mother?” I finally manage to get out. Despite the temptation to fall asleep, I still feel the tugs of conversation keeping me awake. I wonder if I’ll be able to make it into my own room or if I will simply collapse into slumber once I finish talking with her.

 

“Purple?” She clarifies. I feel warm and fuzzy at hearing her speech directed towards me. I nod with a hopeless grin. “The average resident, one who is not related to one of us by magic, has a Petal Pink color assigned to them, and if they have a position in government then it changes to Lime Green. Purple is rare… was it a Royal Purple, like that of the court, or closer to a lilac?” It takes another few minutes, during which I finally loose the feeling in my legs and crumple to the floor, but I eventually manage to indicate to her with a strained voice that it was closer to a hue of Lilac than to the Royal Purple hue. “An actual Lilac sign? I shall investigate this myself, personally, tomorrow afternoon. Did it change upon removing her from the room? I assume you would have checked.”

 

“It… didn… change..” I breathe out.

 

“My knowledge of the colors does not include this, but given your past relationship with the young lady, I say it is fit to assume it has some relation to that. For reference, the color of a lover is the Royal Purple.” When I do not respond, physically incapable of even as much as opening up my mouth at this point, Mother seems to decide to pick me up and bring me into her arms, cradling me. I faint.

 

I wake up to the sound of a door creaking, and open my eyes. I’m clearly in my own bed, the size in way too small for it to be Mother’s bed. _Did she bring me back to my own bed_ …? I sit up and see the backside of Ivy, pushing open the door. I call out to her, “Wait!”

 

“Oh, you’re awake.” She turns around and smiles. I crawl out of bed, and cross the distance between us. She wraps her arms around me. “I’m glad you’re back. Even if you won’t be for long, you have someone back on Asegor that you have to return to in time right?”

 

I nod sadly. “I’m going to see if you can live here during the time I’ll be away again, if you’d like? Or do you already live here? The sign is confusing.”

 

Her eyes light up, “Live.. here? At the Royal Palace? I’m pretty sure that is the dream of every Color everywhere, Holly.” She unwraps her hands from around me and dramatically bows low to the floor, even leading a leg out. Naturally, she winds up slipping on the slick floors. “Ouch ouch ouch! Fuck that hurts!” She cries out, having landed face first. I extend my arm over to her and help her up.

 

“I’ve already added you as a visitor but.. take a look” I lead her outside of the room to where it shows the name of a room’s Resident. She gasps adorably when she sees the lilac color and the word roommate.

 

“If I’m your roommate… does that actually make me a resident now? And… why is it Lilac? That’s not a color in the Palace Room Color Directory, I should know… I’ve memorized the entire list!” I flush a bright blue at her words, trying to avoid thinking too directly about what Mother told me last night. “Would you happen to know what the color means at least?”

 

“W-w-well…” I stammer. “If you know _all_ of the colors in the directory.. you probably have an idea, wouldn’t you?” At this, _she_ flushes similarly over her skin, becoming a dark green to compliment her usually lighter complexion.

 

“Well… the only Purple in the Directory is the Royal Purple, which… is used for lovers? But.. that can’t be correct, can it?” she asks with disbelief on her face. “I… my feelings haven’t faded, but.. we broke up, didn’t we? Maybe we were three hundred years ago, but… we aren’t anymore are we? Does it means that we are past lovers, is that what it means?” Her voice rises in pitch and speed, quickly becoming frantic until she sits down outside the room. I follow and lay down next to her, looking up at her face.

 

I take hold of one of her hands, and slowly stroke it. “I only broke up with you because I was worried it would be too hard to continue it like that. We agreed to monogamy and I didn’t want to force you into hundreds of years of solitude where you have to avoid dating anyone just to stay with me. And… I didn’t want to be the one to become excited to see you pop down there one day or another and then have to… hear you break up with me part of the way though my assignment. But now that we can travel back and forth to Asegor…” I leave the question open ended and shut my eyes tight, preparing to get attacked by Vines and pierced through my core, or the possibly worse rejection of silence and a slap on the cheek. I don’t dare ask it in full given how nervous I am even asking it partially. Regardless, I refuse to let go of her hand, and instead begin to grasp it tighter.

 

In place of a slap of rejection, I feel a hand make its way into my hair. It weaves in between groups of strands, and one is twirled around a finger. “I accept”

 

“Accept… what?”

 

“You were asking me to date you right?” That’s… that’s what you were saying, right? That you wouldn’t have to worry about that because we would be able to still see each other?”

 

“I.. suppose. But are you not with Lavender? I was sure you were? The council prefers to send couples to work together on missions, don’t they?”

 

“Well, I suppose they do… but we aren’t a couple. I don’t even like Lavender, I think she might have had a crush on me at one point though. Have you heard from her?”

 

“I met someone in Asegor who was named Lavender just before coming back here last night. She… disappeared. In the same way that you and I do. In the way that Elementals do. She couldn’t remember me until eating food and drink, so I worry about her. She might have lost some of her memories, not to mention it’s quite likely she could be almost Tainted from the same buildup of magic without anyone there to Clear her magic. It's not an incredibly common symptom, but it does happen. She seems to have adapted rather well to life among humans though." I give her a description of her human-passing form and ask if that sounds like the Lavender she knows, as opposed to a different one.

 

“That is the exact outfit she wore, minus the handbag, the last time I saw her” Ivy responds. But before we can continue our conversation, we (and likely everyone else in the Palace) hears the thunder caused by a Pure walking around. The reason the palace is so tall is entirely because of them after all. But instead of the mammoth-sized ancient I met with last night, one so translucent I could not even see. Today, she presents herself as a younger girl, around our age and height. She is unusually visible for an Elemental, completely opaque, and is wearing a frilly white dress, with a scepter in one hand.

 

“Hello, you two.” We both immediately get out a reply, and a quick look over at Ivy shows she is obviously terrified. _It probably is her first time talking to one of the Royals, after all._ “I came to inspect the sign, so if you two would get inside the room for a quick moment, I would like to examine the magic’s reaction to your entrance.” I scurry into the room, grabbing her by the hand and rushing into the room. White shuts the door on us. I embrace her in a tight hug, figuring that whatever the magic that governs the Palace’s signs is, that physical contact will help it decide what we are.

 

Five minutes and a very awkward hug later, we hear a knocking on the door and are told we can come out now. Sitting on the steps next to Ivy, I look up at White, who cuts right to the point. “The room says you are dating.”


	9. Date in Asegor (part 1)

When neither of us responds, she asks, “did I say something weird? I may be ancient and a Pure, but you can still talk to me, you two.”

Ivy speaks for me. “I… think it is reasonable to say that we are dating now?” She looks over at me for confirmation and I nod. “But when Holly here dragged be back into the room last night we definitely were not dating. I had… confessed to you in a song earlier in the day, but I don’t think that really counted? And it wasn’t like you said anything in return as an acceptance of it?”

Speaking mystically, White simply says, “Sometimes magic knows us better than we do ourselves. We are magic, after all. And with that mystery sorted out, I think I shall add ‘’dating’’ to the list of statuses that the Palace magic recognizes.” She walks away.

—————————————————————————————————————————

I take Ivy by hand, “how would you feel about going somewhere and being worshipped like a god, Ivy Thorn?”

She laughs, “Whatever are you talking about, dearest Holly? Being worshipped by a god? I know that people will respect you anywhere because of your parentage and status as a permanent Resident of the Royal Palace, but don’t you think you’re getting ahead of yourself just a bit by calling it god-worship?”

“No no, not that Ivy!” And so I recant my experiences in exile in the Kil mountain range to Ivy. “I bet if they saw me again and I worked a little magic… yknow. Basic stuff. Just a reminder that the sprite they’ve been worshipping truly exists and” I say, pulling Ivy flush against me and then dipping her, “she has a girlfriend.” I kiss her forehead and giggle when I hear noises of embarrassment, including a series of groans from her. After staying in the same position for an awkwardly long amount of time, she agrees.

“That would be fun. I feel like I’m supposed to be the girlfriend who is responsible and stops you from manipulating petty humans…”

“Where would the fun in a relationship like that be? We should just have fun and be ourselves!” I complain, putting on a fake pout.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

[At a town at the base of the Guer mountain of the Kil mountain range]

“Where are we” asks my girlfriend. Ah, what a nice thought. “I thought we were going into the mountains, so why are we at the base?” She looks up at the mountain in front of us.

“Just a mistake in my jumping. It’s harder when I have to bring someone along, you know? Anyways, we may as well just trudge up the mountain ourselves. It’s not going to take long for us, and I can show you some of the nature ourselves. First though, let’s walk around the town for a bit.” I don’t bother assuming a human appearance for this.

The town is nothing like the city of Bolgar in almost all respects. The people here are mainly indigenous, the original natives of the land. The way of life starkly contrasted by my experiences with Bolgar, and most of the country’s northern region where the lifestyle of Frean is still prominent, despite having become part of Naar’s territory 400 years ago. The houses are larger, and a quick inspection given by entering a house after casting misdirection magic over us shows that it is due to group living. Each of the houses I enter all have over ten humans living inside, most housing around twenty humans.

The most incredibly different aspect of the village was its lack of electricity. Everywhere I looked there were one or two devices: a vending machine for something, some sort of automatic opening door, a telephone booth. (Not to mention there were still telephone poles above the city, carrying the charge way off into the distance. How backwards can I place be, that they still have those things?) But none of the humans had electronic attachments on their arms, backs, legs, necks… anywhere. It should not have been such a surprise to me; factually speaking, I knew this area was low on electronic capability due to how little electricity they were allotted to begin with.

Relying on magic to sense their thoughts in order gleam what they are saying, I have several conversations. Their language is different from mine, and I can’t understand it. If I knew someone who did, I would be able to use a translation filter by accessing their mind remotely through an artificial link. Instead, I browse through their mind and understand what they say through it. My replies come in a language they don’t know and yet instinctively understand: the language of magic itself.

Approaching a vendor behind a stall once the customer currently inside is gone, I ask, “Are there no electronics here?”

The vendor falters, probably because of my strange and unfamiliar yet comprehensible language, before he replies “There haven’t been ever since we were allowed to have our land back. The Frean took all of their electronics up north with them when the occupation ended. They only left the undesirables here, things that barely work as they are. It’s not a problem though, we never adapted to their electronic lifestyle so having all of those pointless contraptions missing hasn’t affected our way of life too much…”

“Would the townspeople, like yourself, appreciate having more electricity available though? Even if you didn’t use it.”

“It certainly would be a help. Tourists are constantly complaining about their extensions not working, and there have been several cases recently of tourists who died in the region not being able to reboot themselves, due to the lack of electricity to run the procedures necessary.”

Ivy leans over next to me, and whispers, “Why do I get the feeling that this ‘’date’’ is actually just you doing something for your life back here in Asegor and me tagging along?” She brings a hand up to her face is mock surprise, “Don’t tell me… you’re cheating on me with him? Or wait, would that be the other way around..? Seems a little rude to your girlfriend doesn’t it?” I grimace. She is obviously correct in that what I’m doing is going to be beneficial for the future, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it.  
  
“What the shit Ivy?” I whisper forcefully at her, “You know that Vlad and I aren’t like that. I don’t think we even have compatable preferences in that regard. But yes, this is going to be helpful in a number of years down the line and I’m doing it now because in ten years from now the government might start taking more notice of this region which will make it a lot harder to start then. I just need to do some stuff here before we go up the mountain okay?”

The shopkeeper peers over at our conversation, “You’re going up the mountain? Whatever for?” He looks concerned.

“We have business with some of the tribes that live in Mt. Guer”

“You.. must be mistaken. The government built… structures in the mountains around here about fifty years ago. Nobody knows what they do or why they exist. But the tribes that lived in Guer moved. We don’t know where to” he shrugs, “we stay here and mind our own business. They can go and leave, but we won’t chase after them.”

“Fifty years? Are you sure about that?” I ask. I’m aware my eyes are shining, giving me away as inhuman (even more than my general appearance is), but I don’t fight it back. Fifty-seven years ago, a new Emperor took over the position from his father. The royal line was continued in Matein line, as it had been ever since the country’s founding, with Trofim Matein taking over from Eduard Matein. His policies were very similar to his fathers: he promoted acts that furthered and kept in place non-discrimination policies, ad buys to teach about the dangers of subsentence abuse, he gave a very significant portion of the government’s budget to funding scientific research, outreach, education, and even creating new labs wherever he could. Somehow, I did not doubt this mysterious building was involved in his personal research.

“Yes, give or take a bit… Why do you ask?”

“Oh.. no reason in particular? Made me think of Trofim’s succession as Emperor was all.” I turn around and start taking my leave, but the man stops me by grabbing my arm. I’m about to liquify it or even be as direct as to push him when he releases me. He closes his eyes and bows down,

“I think you for your blessing in visiting us on this day, Goddess Holly. Your people in Guer may have moved elsewhere, but we haven’t and still remember you here on their behalf.” I’m stunned and at a loss for words.. I bid him a quick goodbye. Ivy, of course, takes this as an opportunity to tease me.

“You’re that shocked by just a little bit of praise from a human?” She smirks, “Aren’t you supposed to be better with that sort of thing, given how you’re some sort of goddess and all that?”

“Shut up Ivy” I mutter. “I was just surprised that the tribes would have communicated my legend to others and keep it prominent enough some random shopkeeper would remember me.” We walk around town for about an hour before I ask Ivy, “I don’t suppose I can convince you to help me out with this project? It’ll take the rest of the day at minimum, possibly even tomorrow. We’re not going to completely finish it, but there is a part I would like to start. And it would go a lot faster with your help.”

It takes her till we get to the edge of town to agree to my proposal. I begin describing the task to her, stretching out and creating a pair of wings as I do. “Okay. So. At the base of the Guer, there is, or used to be, a deposit of Witching Crystals. Theoretically someone could have done something to them, but… you know how hard those things are.” I lift off and start flying. “I highly doubt anyone on the planet has the firepower necessary to cut them off in a useable fashion, let alone the knowledge of how to do so. The cave where they are is hidden behind a wall, standard fare in that part.”

I pause when I see Ivy on the ground, not having moved since I started my description. I stall and hover in the air as I wait for her to catch up. “What do you mean when you say there is a deposit of Witching Crystals, Holly?”

“I… mean there is a deposit of Witching Crystals, Thorn. Why do you… oh.”

“Yeah. You you thought it was okay to just bring over Witching Crystals to Asegor? Introduce a foreign species like that? What is wrong with you? They are expensive, really sensitive to magic and will even combust violently if exposed to too much of it!”

“Well good thing this land has basically no magic in it, right?” I retort back. “Look, I knew what I was doing. Yes, this is a serious crime and I would probably have my second name revoked, my magic suppressed, or even memories taken away if the High Council found out about this and thought they could actually punish me for it. But, I’m taking a leap of faith here that my girlfriend is not going to turn her girlfriend in to the High Council, because that would be unproductive. And also she would lose her girlfriend, cause I probably would not be the same person after they lob off part of my body to forcibly de-age me and also get rid of a lot of my memories.”

“I-I-I’m not going to turn you in, for Spectrum’s sake, — ‘thank you’ — but why would you do something like that?”

“I don’t know. I was annoyed at being exiled so I bought a crystal and grew it for a few years while I wandered around the area. When it was getting close to time to come back, I thought that it probably was best to.. place it somewhere out of the way. Which I did. I wasn’t being that irresponsible, Ivy.” We fly the rest of the way to the cave. I see crystals sticking out of where the wall should be. “Well… they’ve certainly grown a fair amount, I guess…”

We land down at the base. I return my wings into my body and place my hands on her back, Clearing her form. Ivy does the same for me, returning our Taint levels to a near-zero baseline. I demonstrate what we are going to do for clearing out the crystals: I take my arm and extend it into a whip. I wrap it around the base of a crystal near me as a demonstration. I constrict it and raise the temperature of my whip-arm, until the constriction and temperature slices through it. “This is what we are doing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey Aqua Holly, are you sure you should be going on a date that involves climbing a mountain when you have someone to be looking for? For that matter, are you sure that going on a date of climbing a mountain and having your girlfriend watch people worship you like a god is a good idea for a first date?


	10. Goddess Holly [Date in Asegor pt.2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holly returns to the town, runs into people... and things happen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 11 of NaNoWriMo... 4,023 words... a new record

I instruct Ivy on how to do the same as me and in a couple of minutes, we are able to both collecting the crystals. The Witching Crystals are everywhere outside of the cave it seems like. They are growing on the side of the mountain, growing in a straight path towards the town, growing wherever they can. I shape some dirt using my magic into a large basket and throw the crystals inside one by one. When one basket is filled up completely after only half of the Witching Crystals outside of the cave’s entrance are cut down, Ivy asks the question I was avoiding…

 

“Why are there so many of these? They grow best with magic Holly. Even in 400 years they shouldnt be growing nearly this much…”

 

“Yeah… I had worried about that. Just, never came to check it? I think this mountain may have a non-insignificant amount of magic in it? Uhh… because of the magic I performed for those tribes and the help that I gave their soil? Magic tends to permeate through things, it is… possible I suppose that the soil in this mountain now has magic in it, which has allowed these crystals to grow.”

 

“You are an idiot, Holly. You seriously didn’t think of this happening” she bickers at me.

 

“No! I didn’t! I was thinking about how silly the humans were for worshipping me so much!” With our bickering, it takes a full hour to complete the second basket and get inside of the hidden cave. I make sure to bring both baskets in, just on the off chance that someone was nearby and saw them. The cave is full of Witching Crystals. sections of it are simply just one huge crystal, and part of me wonders just how much all this would sell for back in the Witching Hour. With soil that contains only light amounts of magic and isn’t exposed to magic through the air, I’ve accidentally found a wondrous way to grow them.

 

The crystals shimmer and gleam with the magic they hold inside of them, and their reflections creates a beautiful display of carrying colors all around the cavern. The ground itself beneath us, and especially further back towards the far end of the cavern, has formed crystals and gained a glass-like sheen. I pull large clumps of dirt from a wall and shape it into a third large basket, and we continue. “We probably don’t need all of these crystals, but we should take them regardless. I have a feeling that we shouldn’t leave these crystals just lying around like this when the government has a building just up the mountain.”

 

“Aren’t the governments good? Sure the Council isn’t the best and they make mistakes, but overall they provide support. Is the government of Asegor not like that?”

 

“First of all, there’s not ‘a government of Asegor’” I remind her, giving a brief history lesson as I continue taking out crystals. “There are many. Hundreds across the world. The Vrin region, it is called a ‘’continent’’ that we are currently in has eighty-nine nations with governments in it. There are two zones where are ruled in Anarchy that, due to various agreements between the world’s nations, nobody disturbs.” I toss a couple of Witching Crystal into the bag, “The nation of Naar, where we are more specifically in right now, has a government that only seems to care about becoming the pinnacle of the future and, as a part of that, scientific development.”

 

“Scientific development? What’s that?” I struggle with how to explain it to my girlfriend.

 

“The machines that you and Lavender saw were scientific development. Scientific development is when things are powered with math and electricity instead of magic and light.” I say. “What they want is to be the best at making things with electricity and math. What that means is they want to create new things that are more complicated, last longer, and do more than the new things that other nations make. That’s what scientific development is: making new things with math and electricity.”

 

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with focusing your efforts and making new inventions? That’s what the Royal Creators do.”

 

I think about my answer. Sure the example she brought up is a good point, but it’s not quite the same.“Naar doesn’t want to have traces in their country, in their more populated and famous areas where foreign dignitaries visit at least, of… the science of centuries past.” I say, and she turns her head towards me in listening. “Most of the citizens don’t particularly care for those older sciences, but some do. I think… it is bad because they are willing to give up other things in order to make new things. Think about if our Royal Creators were to condemn the old creations of one thousand years ago just because they have newer creations that do the task better; you should imagine if they were to declare that the old creations were bad and that those who decide to use them in place of their newer creations were also bad.” I try to explain, “That is the path Naar has started to head down, and it is why I say their government is bad. Does that make sense?”

 

She nods her head and we return to silence, the only sounds being the thuds and clanks of crystals smacking into each other and the basket, and the sound created by superheated arms melting away crystal layers. We have to stop and Clear each other about every twenty minutes to avoid building up significant amounts of Taint from the magic we are expelling. Finally we clear the cave, six more baskets and a couple of hours later, with another hour spent making sure that none of the crystals will grow back.

 

The flight back is harder, having to carry eight baskets between the two of us. I have us land outside of the town’s borders and leave Ivy to guard all of the baskets for me.

 

I go into town by myself, and return to the same shop. Unfortunately for me, and for my plan, the shop is closed. There is nothing to indicate how long ago the shopkeeper vacated it, nor anything to indicate where he might have gone. With no other ideas, I head to the town’s center; any large place for congregations is usually a safe bet when trying to find a fairly average person, in my experience. It takes me a lot longer than I would have wanted to find the town center, given it is apparently not in the town’s center (which contains the mayor’s house, a few important looking buildings, and a small shopping area.) The figurative town center, once I manage to find it, is not empty, though it has a lot fewer people than I expected. There are benches scattered about, and a statue of… me? Erected as the centerpiece of the square. There are about forty people mulling about that appear to be townsfolk, and four humans in a uniform I don’t recognize. It consists of a light grey buttoned and collared shirt with a silver tie on the top. The buttons are black and red in alternating fashion, and the cuffs on the sleeves are buttoned tight. All of them are wearing pants that contain a myriad of colors, swirling around in tidal fashion. It contrasts sharply with the proper and formal appearance of their tops while still managing to look formal itself.

 

I watch their interactions before confronting them: Every two minutes or so, they walk around to a different human and appear to start a conversation. The townsfolk pull out some sort of card and show it to them, and then they talk again. They either shake or nod their ned and then the uniformed men move on to a different person. After a few of these interactions, the townsperson leaves. I tightly bind my magic to myself, not letting any wisps of it escape, and enter the square.

 

About ten seconds pass before one of them notices. He immediately points a gun at me. He speaks in a language I don’t know, and I don’t get the chance to figure out what he is saying. I do have the time to prod the minds of all five uniformed men before the reply though,

 

“A Walker? Where?” Comes the reply from behind me. I continue walking despite hearing their conversation, not wanting to appear like I understand them.

 

“Lawrence, she’s obviously the one who just entered. We told all of the villagers to be here an hour ago. There’s no way she’s one of them, she looks too different.” The reply comes from my right. I make it to the statue of me in the center.

 

“Should we arrest her?” The question is from the left, and is probably from the man who first spoke.

 

“I don’t know if we _can_ arrest her, Timothy. We don’t have any crimes to arrest her on.” The reply comes from the man I take to be named Lawrence. At this point, I’ve now climbed up the podium of my statue, and am standing on me feet.

 

“That has to be a crime right? What she _is doing right now? Climbing a statue has got to be a crime_ , right?” the one in front of me, the last of the four to speak, says. His voice sounds stressed, and cracks towards the middle. He then pulls out a device much like an mobile cellular device in appearance and starts scrolling, obviously checking a list. “ _How is this not a crime?_ ” He yells.

 

Timothy speaks, “Well I don’t know, Wanata! Don’t yell at us! It’s probably _not a crime_ because _who the fuck would just start climbing a statue_ ,” he cries out, gesticulating wildly at me. I wave innocently in response. One of my arms is wrapped tightly around my torso, the other flailing in the air as I continue scooting up. Through all of this, the villagers stay seated.

 

I have just made it to my shoulders (where I take a break and sit crosslegged) When one of them, Wanata, calls to me in the Naaran, the common language of the country. “Hey! Get down from there! You’re disturbing public peace!”

 

I yell back, “No I’m not! This doesn’t look to be bothering the citizenry, which is how that crime is defined by the way, and the act of climbing a statue is not illegal in this province, I looked it up. You have no grounds to arrest me. I’m just climbing a statue, officers.” In actuality I didn’t look it up, and don’t know if they are officers or not. What I doknow from a quick glance is that all four of them became very immediately angered.

 

Wanata holds his gun up in the air, obviously aiming for me. The others follow. “Firing at a citizen of your own country officers? That won’t bode well for you~” I mock in a singsong voice. I create a camera discretely and point it glaringly at the gun focused at me. I say, “On the 4th month of the year, on the night of the third day, a uniformed official pointed his gun at me.” I move the camera around to one by one get all four officers into view, “I stand corrected… On the 4th month of the year, on the night of the 3rd day, _four_ uniformed officials pointed their guns at me.”

 

I roll my eyes and the officer shoots. My skin was already hardened to allow me better grip the statue as I climbed it, so the bullet simply bounces off of my skin. There is a clang, the sound of metal hitting metal. The men stare at me in confusion, “Got metal sheets over my whooole body. You never know when someone is just going to randomly attack you out here, where there are fewer officers of the law…. What are you all anyways? I don’t recognize your uniform.” I ask them.

 

The one I know as Wanata steps forward and answers in Naaran, “We are four of the government’s of Naar’s employees in this region. We work at the power and development facility on Mount Guer. This is our uniform.”

 

“What’re you doing up at Guer? Don’t some people live there? Can’t much imagine they’re very happy with the reoccupation are they?” Or did you just kick them out of their land again?” I lay down backwards on the statue.

 

“They moved away fifty-four ago when we moved in.” He explained.

 

“Huh, well I’ve got some places to be and I kinda managed to climb the statue already so… cya later, do you take visitors over there?”

 

“We do not.” I flip off from the statue and land on my feet gracefully. _If I can’t find him, then I will just have to find the mayor instead_. _A mayor should be home at this time of night, right?_

 

I jog back over to his house and knock on the door. A distinguished woman opens the door. She appears to be in her seventies or eighties. Her hair is white and she leans on a stick of what looks like jade. Her eyes light up when she sees me, and she offers a hushed “come in, come in.” I follow her inside her house. The floor is wooden, probably made from a tree native to the area. The house is big and filled with furniture and other items to occupy the space. I close the door behind me and lock the deadbolt.

 

She frailly hobbles over to a couch, the outside clearly made of some kind of animal fur… visually looks like it might be a Reavem, a large feathered animals with sharp talons and an underside with protective fur. Because of how difficult it is to skin the animal, in addition to how little fur is on any given one, the material is rather rare in the city and generally only able to be owned so frivolously by those with extreme wealth. Of course, out in nature the material is naturally going to be more available, so displays like this are attributable to wealth, but also simply to the connections one has and their long life.

 

I don’t just enter a stranger’s house without thought, and ever since I stepped through the door, I had been wondering why I was invited. There were three general realms of possibility: One, she was working with the power facility humans and was trying to keep me here while they came to arrest me…. For whatever crime they could think of. Two: she was not working with them and might in fact recognize me from the statue. Three: She isn’t working with anyone and does not know me; she is just a kind mayor who let someone inside because they knocked on her door. She starts the conversation, “Today is a really unique day. First I get a report that someone out of town is visiting us, then I get a report that someone is mining the crystals that have grown by the mountainside for over two hundred years, and then… then I get a report that someone, the same someone, is climbing the statue of our city’s patron goddess.”

 

I rise off of my ass and strike the same pose as the statue of myself. I release the tension in my skin, allowing myself to glimmer again. I stand there for maybe a half a minute, silent and unmoving, before realization dawns in her. Her eyes widen and her mouth opens several centimeters, which she closes after a few seconds. “… Goddess Holly?” She whispers, quietly enough I can barely hear her. I nod, giving her confirmation. I showcase a small bit of magic, and make her Jade walking stick glow a bright blue for a few seconds as proof I am a being of magic. “Why have you come here, Goddess?”

 

I ponder how to speak to her, knowing her reverence for me and not wanting to betray it. Despite the long time I take to come up with the appropriate reply, she waits patiently for me as the minutes pass. “I have come to provide assistance. The one mining the crystals earlier was myself, as well as a.. compatriot from the land where I am from. Your government is soon— perhaps within a few decades.. I suppose that isn’t very soon for you humans is it?, going to be dumping a lot of people with knowledge and appreciation for the past into Vreschk. Inevitably some of them will come to your town. I want you to shelter them and have the electrical capacity to provide the support they need. The crystals I was mining earlier have the capacity to store tremendous charge.” She nods lightly every few words, obviously enamored by me and unsure of how to respond as I pause.

 

I start floating, and become smaller, “I will drop by occasionally to monitor progress and assist where I can… occasionally. Expect to see less of those fellows in the strange uniform. I don’t much take well to being shot while lounging on top of my own statue.. That will be all for now. I shall be dropping off the crystals to you shortly, and will give you an explanation regarding them then.”

 

I have her open a window and fly out above the city at an even smaller size, about that of a pixie back in the Witching Hour. I spot Ivy in the distance and am glad when she appears to be unharmed. However, heading down to the gates of the city, where she is, are the four officers of the power facility. _If they even try to lay a hand on my girlfriend…_ A bolt of electricity runs through me as an extreme anger pierces my thoughts. I spectate by the sidelines.

 

The four officers walk through the gates and turn to hear back to their base on the mountain. Then they spot her. She has her back to the wall and is slouched down, with eight baskets of Witching Crystals beside her. One of them notices the crystals and attempts to pick on of them up. Ivy grabs his hand and he screams in pain. It takes me a moment until I see his hand uncovered and realize that she used acid. I think to myself about how I should have warned her not to attack any humans. _Should I get involved? Yeah… probably…._ I float down behind the wall and transform back into full size, and then into a human form different from that of the newscaster Aqua Holly. I leisurely walk out and stand behind them.

 

“Hey hey, we don’t need any fighting here” I say. “I’m sure that this can be resolved in a peaceful manner, what’s the problem?”

 

Ivy does not catch on to my act and is opening her mouth to retort when one of them says, in Naaran, “she fucking dropped acid onto my skin! All I did was reach for one of the crystals! They look like the ones at the base of the mountain and I’ve never heard of any way to destroy them, let alone get such a clean cut! I just wanted to check them out and she attacked me!”

 

“I’m sure that to her, it must have seemed like you were going to steal her rare crystals. Surely you can see why she would get that impression..? Four men walking up to a girl late at night with guns holstered on their hips? Not exactly a pleasant sight, you must admit..” I ask him.” He backs down at my reasoning. I doubt he agrees with me, but my reasoning is solid enough that it makes it hard for them to reasonably disagree.

 

They leave without too much complaint and I wait until they are out of sight before placing my hands on Ivy. “Can you give me some of your magic, please? I’ve.. used a fair amount today and there are still other things I need to be do before the day is over.” She places her hands on my back, and then dips them into my back. I sigh in relief at the feeling. Over a period of a five minutes the Taint that had started to build up in my body from all of the magic I had performed in the city dips down to baseline levels. It was a softer reset of my magic and Taint. It didn’t cause any pain like a forceful expulsion does, and it calmed one’s magic as well, allowing them to harness it with less difficulty.

 

The reset wasn’t necessary either, I could still last for several weeks with magic use like in the city before becoming in perilous danger of Taint. But, as the Council constantly taught us: always refresh yourself whenever possible. It’s a mantra of living in the Witching Hour, and even more of a rule when traveling abroad. I return the favor to Ivy and then we carry the Crystals over to the mayor’s house.

 

She bows deeply when she sees us and lets us back in again and bows deeply. Ivy enters ahead of me and we put down the baskets. “Here are the Witching Crystals that I mentioned. You can him them up to most electrical systems, both wired and wireless though they will absorb better through direct contact. You should be able to use them as essentially incredibly large batteries. You won’t need to have a formal electrical grid because these will suffice. I’m not sure where you should get your electricity from, though. Solar panels would be a great form of generating the energy that you need. Your territory here is rather large and the year in this area has enough sunshine that you can get a good amount of energy from them. If nothing else, you can set up wind generators. I’ll find blueprints for both of those at one point or another if you can’t yourself.”

 

“What do I… _do_ with the Crystals, Goddess Holly?” Ivy jabs me in the ribs at the goddess comment, just as amused as I thought she would be.

 

“Protect them. The people from the Guer facility will be very interested in getting their hands on these crystals. I ask that you not keep them publicly acknowledged. If people are asking you why you need to do this, you can tell them I told you. Your glowing blue jade cane should be proof enough that I really did visit, I hope?”

 

She nods vigorously. “I will do as much as I possibly can to keep them a secret and safe from them. My, and our, loyalty shall always be to you first, Goddess Holly… being so kind and generous as to appear before someone like me…” she starts tearing up. I clasp your hand,

 

“Don’t let me down, Cae.” I leave the Witching Crystals in her care, taking two of the baskets back with me, disappearing them into my skin. It’ll be a botherance for now, but now I’m

 

“Do you really trust them, Aqua?” Ivy asks me.

 

“I don’t know if I trust them. They are humans after all. But, I trust that they will be loyal to me. I’ve pretty much just worked a miracle in front of her. I floated, changed my shape numerous times, cut down a crystal nobody had ever had the power to cut down, and made an object glow. It’s still glowing even now. It’ll be glowing for a good two hundred years with how much I overpowered the **charm**. So Ivy… now I have a question for you: Would you like to return to the Witching Hour now, search for the old tribes that worshipped me and have you be introduced to them, or visit our _friends_ in that facility up on the mountain?”

 

“I’d like to visit those humans… I have a feeling that I might have a fun time.” She smirks.


	11. Clover-Lime Electric

Flying up the mountain takes very little time. Ivy told me she wanted revenge on those bastards for touching her (stuff) and I was too enamored by her to disagree and explain all the ways that this could go badly for us.

 

The building is large, covering perhaps half the area of the town, and made of the same grey color as the officer’s uniforms. Much of it protrudes into the mountain itself, a large section of it is dug out. We fly higher and higher above the building and eventually see that while the building does protrude into the cavern, it is not the only thing taking up that space. To see better, we get closer and perch on the building’s rooftop. Only when we got much closer do we notice that there are three stories to the building, not one. When we get even closer, about twenty meters away, the reason became clear to me: It was being hidden away with magic.

 

The thought, fact, perplexed me. There aren’t supposed to be any humans in Asegor with the capability of using magic. Vlad was a complete anomaly in his very limited capability and sensitivity to it, the other major reason I paired up with him. The likelihood that another human in Near even would have this capability… _Well, Naar has a fairly large population so I suppose it is possible but even more that they would have enough magic to do this and make it so strong in addition to learning how to wield it…. Impossible._ “There might be a human that uses magic in here, Ivy. We need to be careful.”

 

We land down gracefully on the rooftop. I feel the magic shift around me, coming up from the floor. I immediately jump up, throwing Ivy into the air with one arm. She catches herself and reenters flight, but the ground catches my legs before I’m able to get away, rushing at me in a tidal wave of force. I heat up my lower body using magic, hoping to turn the magic into a more harmless cloud of mist (though even having a cloud of magic floating around could be quite dangerous to the local wildlife, the little that I’ve seen.)

 

The magic wrapped around me doesn’t completely dissipate, but it stops climbing higher up my body. It stays coiled around my legs, constantly trying to climb higher up and reach my knees, but failing to withstand the heat. I try again to increase the heat and this time manage to barely slip out of the magic coiled around me. “What was that…” I knew what the magic was, it was Trap Magic, specialty of the Plant Colors, though I’ve seen others manage it. The only Plant Color nearby was Ivy and she would never do something like that to me. But that settles the matter. I refused to believe that trap was the work of a _human_ , not unless if they had access to a massive well of power, which I am sure does not exist naturally within the world. I searched for it for years my various exiles to Asegor and while there were a spot of two that contained some amount of magic flowing through them, I’m sure they were from foreign influences, just like how this mountain is one such place due to mine.

 

And besides that, they aren’t drawing from the mountain.. the crystals were growing perfectly fine, so the mountain had plenty of magic in it and I can still feel it now.

 

 _CLACK. CLACK. CLACK. CLACK._ A harsh sound like that of magic thumping against steel comes from below. I look down to hide but don’t think I can make down far enough in the time I have. Neither can I hide above, like Ivy, already floating high above the vantage point of the stairs leading up. So instead of hiding, I stay out in plain slight, not bothering to hide and wrap my magic close to me, ready to let it burst out. A girl of yellow walks out. She’s wearing a dress held up only by one shoulder that goes down to her ankles. She’s about half a foot shorter than me. Her skin is… clear.

 

“I hope you’re not under any pitiful delusions that I can’t see you like that, Aqua Holly. I can see you too, girl of green but I’m afraid I don’t know your name.” She speaks in Naaran, with a heavy accent, pronouncing each grouping of words said slowly and clearly.

 

I recognize the voice and instantly place who she is. “Clover-Lime Electric? What are you doing here? Why are you working with these _humans_?”

 

“For the same reason you’re working with _your_ pitiable human. Intelligence. The humans that I found just happened to be a bit higher up on the latter of importance. I hope you’ll excuse the Trap Magic I placed there, but defenses are necessary. Now, why don’t we have a chat… we don’t have any need to fight, do we?”

 

“You.. aren’t planning on trying to fight us?”

 

“That would be foolish. You’re taller than me so you’re clearly stronger and the green lady is about my height if not taller. I’m not going to fight two opponents who both have much more magic than me.”

 

“And how should I trust that you won’t trap us again if we come down to the rooftop?”

 

I feel a pulse of magic and the rooftop… seems different. “Can you feel the difference? I dispelled the trap. Boss is going to be angry at me for that but what can I do..” She shrugs. I land back down on the roof, trusting her. The roof doesn’t react and I’m safe from any harm.

 

“Okay then. Why are you working with the government, do you realize what they’re doing?”

 

“What they’re doing? Yeah, they discovered a new energy source out here so I was assigned to investigate it as one of the leading scientists in the nation. As I human” her appearance changes, “I go by Beryl. Beryl Verkenstradt.”

 

I don’t recognize the name with any specificity as to the person’s exact line of work, but it’s a name I have heard before. “Alright then. I believe you. I’m out here because the government is preparing to dump a bunch of people with knowledge that they want everyone to forget. They have also been becoming more militaristic lately and in some of the underground circles, the fear is that they will dump people who refuse to conform out here, essentially killing them off, and then mold the ones that will conform to how they see fit.” After a minute of silence, I ask “does that explain what the government is doing?”

 

Clover-Lime takes time to respond, “I… yeah it explains it,” her voice rises a bit, “but I… that’s not my problem. It doesn’t have anything to do with me. As far as I see, you’re a sympathetic worrywart who cares too much about the problems of petty humans.” She scoffs, “If humans die, humans die. They do so all the time. I don’t get what your problem with it is, Holly. You can’t just ask me to care about a pixie I accidentally squashed just because it has **life**.”

 

“It’s wrong and immoral though!”

 

“Yeah! It sounds pretty shitty for this government to be doing” Clover-Lime agrees, “but I don’t care. I have a job that allows me to collect the information I was assigned to. Every here and now I murder a scientist that gets too close to discovering something too dangerous. I really don’t see why you care.”

 

I groan. “You’re really frustrating, you know? I care because I think that the government shouldn’t be doing shitty things, even if it doesn’t affect me. I think it is worth believing and trying to do better.”

 

“You want to come in? I can introduce you to the others. I don’t particularly care one way or another if you interfere with what the government’s doing but don’t expect me to help much if at all.” I nod and the two of us follow her in.

 

The inside of the facility, like expected, is the definition of neat and tidiness. There doesn’t appear to be a singular item out of place anywhere in the facility. The second third floor, which we pass through first, appears to mostly be a storage unit for different machinery parts. Yet, even among the mess of it all, there is a clear organization by size and part type. There are some small machines moving around, gathering pieces and bringing them down the stairs to the second level. A few machines, ones carrying bigger pieces, move to one of the four sides of the room and take what is apparently an installed elevator down to the floor below.

 

Beryl explains, “this is primarily the storage room.” She then points to the boards covering all of the side-walls. “This is also the research and planning room, as you can see. The other scientists convene here to decide what to make, in addition to a variety of other decisions. The robots serve in place of assistants that would be slower in completing the tasks assigned to them due to lag of thought process or simply insufficient strength to carry the requisite materials.”

 

She brings us down to the second floor. It is divided into at least two rooms, unlike the last which was only one. There is a white door on the opposing wall, which must be part of the building that goes into the mountain, given the geography that I saw from the top-down view of the facility. “Here is where the scientists direct the actual building of any machinery. Everyone has gone home for the day by this point, so there isn’t anyone around.” I motion to the machinery to ask the obvious question, “The assistants are working to prep the materials for the start of the next day’s projects. They’ll be working another hour or so. Now… through this door here…” we walk across the room and enter the door, following her, “we have the design room.”


End file.
